W&J hosts symposium on harnessing hydrogen

Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table, and is here, there and everywhere, making up 75% of the universe’s mass.
It would be quite easy to go a day, a month or a year without giving hydrogen a second thought, but the most abundant chemical element in our world was front and center at a symposium at Washington & Jefferson College Tuesday.
“Harnessing Hydrogen: Exploring Local and Regional Opportunities in Appalachia” brought together lawmakers, policy mavens and other interested individuals to examine the potential for a clean hydrogen and carbon capture hub in the region. Advocates say that such a hub would yield economic benefits for communities in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, but the path to creating it is stymied by challenges ranging from the regulatory to the technological.
“I see these cycles go up and down with hydrogen, and I’m hoping this time is the charm,” said Dr. Deborah Stine, the symposium’s keynote speaker. Stine is the president of the consulting firm Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy Analysis and Education, and has worked at Carnegie Mellon University and for the Congressional Research Service.
As industries move away from fossil fuels and toward renewable sources, hydrogen could be used in such areas as heavy shipping and freight, according to Corey Young, the director of W&J’s Center for Energy Policy and Management. Hydrogen is also a byproduct of methane, and so creating a hydrogen hub would be potentially lucrative for the natural gas industry, Young pointed out.
Other states have already banded together to create their own hydrogen hubs, including Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma, and Maine and Rhode Island.
“There’s some progress, but still a lot of work to be done,” Young said.
Other panelists at the symposium included state Rep. Josh Kail, R-Beaver, and Beaver Falls Mayor Dr. Kenya Johns.